Asato sada gamaya = take me to the reality from unreality.” “ Tamaso m1ryothir gamaya = take me to light from darkness.” “ Mrtyo ma amrtoyi gamaya = take me to immortality from mortality”. During this period Upaniṣadic thinkers engaged in search for Truth not a belief. There are about 108 Upaniṣads among them 13 Upaniṣads are considered as principal Upaniṣad. Bṛhadāranyaka, Taithareya, Chāndogya are considered as early Upaniṣadic period (900-700 B.C.) Katha Upaniṣad 2shā Upaniṣad are considered as contemporary to the Buddhist era 700-500 B.C. Mundaka Upaniṣad Praśna Upaniṣad Svetasvatara are considered as later the Buddhist era 500-B.C. Maitrī Māndogya
The main aim of Upaniṣadic thought is to reveal truth of the universe and the individual end the relationship between the two relationships the man and the universe. According to Upaniṣads Universe in the Macrocosm Jagadātma Visvātma (great man) Mahāpurisa individual in the Pudgalātma (microcosm) Kudāpurisa (the small man). Upaniṣadic thinkers who attempted to investigate the reality of the universe explained the universe as a creation of the Brahma. Brahma is known as the creation of everything that exist »Sarvam khalu idaṃ brahma;« there are two types of creations appeared in Upaniṣad: 1. The direct creation 2. The indirect creation. Besides this theory of evolution also appeared in the Upaniṣads according to the theory of evolution the universe is not a result of a creation but a result of an evolution both the theory of creation and the theory of the concept of Brahma. Brahma means the power to generate, the word “Brahma” according to scholar original (from Sanskrit word) means “Vach.”
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Ṛg-Vedic Āryans thought that the prayers to the gods could bring happiness to the people because of the power of words and in the early period the word Brahma is used as a synonym to “Word” the power to generate. In Upaniṣads Brahma creates universe by himself as it appears in the Bṛhadārnyaka Upaniṣad Brahma felt alone so he became a man after sometimes again he experienced the previous loneliness and became a woman as a result of that human beings were originated according to the direct creation Brahma should be identical with his creation all qualification of the Brahma should appear in his creation for example, Brahma is eternal therefore his creation should also be eternal. But it is not so the physical world is impermanent although it is considered as a creation of Brahma. As a result of the Upaniṣads failed to prove the identity between the creator and creation. This failure made an attempt to describe the theory of creation with amendments. If said that the universe is created from Brahma but not by Brahma himself. Likewise, the net comes out from the spider. Both explanations were not strong enough to prove the supremacy of Brahma in the creation of the universe. We now can see two kinds of creations viz. 1) Brahma (direct creation) he himself created the universe. 2) Brahma (indirect creation) is not identified with creation; the Brahma is identified with his creation. As a result of that Upaniṣadic sages introduced another theory to explain the relationship between the Brahma, the Creator, and the Universe. That is the Maya. Maya means illusion; Upaniṣads argued that the relationship between the Brahma, the Creator can be understood clearly because everything is covered with the illusion (Maya). Maya misleads people from the truth. We would be able to understand the universe as a creation of Brahma only when we eradication illusion. Illusion should be eradicated through wisdom. Brahma (Macrocosm=huge man) and ātman (Microcosm = tiny man) According to Upaniṣads Microcosm (ātman) in a part of Macrocosm (Brahma). Ātman is created from Brahma as a result of that all living beings are identical parts of Brahma. Therefore, all qualifications of Brahma appeared in the ātman, Brahma is eternal – ātman is also eternal. Brahma cannot be destroyed and ātman also cannot be destroyed, neither Brahma nor ātman change. The search made to find the qualification of Brahma in the ātman failed, it was clearly ātman (the small man), the man is not eternal as Brahma; man is subject to change and mortal. So they found that the living body of man is not ātman they concluded the physical body of man is not the ātman (Annmaya Sarīra= physical maintained by food) they penetrated (understand) deeper into the human body in search of eternal soul ātman) that lives in the person. At this second state, they thought the Prāṇa (energy) that makes man work as the ātman but later they understood that the strength of the person is not eternal. It fluctuates (change) person becomes weak when he gets sick or old. They reject the Prāṇamaya Sarīra (the strength makes man work) the energy as the ātman. The followings are mentioned: 1) Annamya Sarīra (the body maintained by food) 2) Prāṇa Sarīra (the strength that makes man work)
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3) Manomaya Sarīra ( the mind that commands the person to act) 4) Viññāṇa Sarīra ( the entity that mind is based and makes mind work) As the third, Upaniṣadic sages introduce the Mind as the ātman (Manomaya) they fell that mind acts backwardly if the mind is perfect as Brahma it should not be backward they continued their research for ātman, which holds the qualification of Brahma. They found the Viññāṇa as the ātman. This stage also did not comply with basic qualification of ātman. It was clear that Viññāṇamaya stage of the ātman did not reach the true nature of reality. Viññāṇamaya sarīra was not able to show the eternal nature of the ātman. Finally, they decided that ātman exists but cannot be explained. They penetrated deeper into the human body but were unable to find the immortal ātman that exists inside the person. In some other Upaniṣad sages tried to approached the ātman using another strategy; they also tried to reach the immortal soul through their sense experiences. They took the living man as the soul (Jagrate), they experienced that the body of the living man is subject to change but ātman does not change; it is immortal and unchanging. They rejected the idea that ātman is visible in the external body of the living man; they considered that the ātman becomes visible during the dream stage (Svapna) during the sleeping-man experienced bad dream. If ātman is perfect and immortal then bad dream comes to him. If man experienced bad dream during the dream stage that cannot be ātman. Susapti ātman is visible in the person during the stage of deep sleep. Even at this stage Upaniṣad sages found that the ātman is imperfect because ātman could not behave freely. Three statements; Jagrate, Svapna, Susapati, Turiya, fourth stages when all attempt made became futile Upaniṣad sages decided that the ātman exists but cannot be grasped; Upaniṣad sages attempt to clarify the nature of ātman though it cannot be experienced personally. The Katha Upaniṣad says that the Atman lives in the heart; ātman is inside of a finger »Angushtha matro parisartartma sadā jananaṃ hucaye saññivishataka« Brahadāranyaka sages say that the ātman leaves the body at the death and goes to another body, like the leaf goes from one leaf of grass to another.
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